Contact Improvisation
Earthdance
is an arts, dance, & movement organization and retreat center in Western Massachusetts, on unceded, ancestral Nipmuck, Pocumtuc and Wabanaki Confederacy Land. Earthdance welcomes guests from around the world to engage in events that center movement and embodied practice, Contact Improvisation, and collaborative art making.
The staff and board of directors are committed to an organizational culture that values interdisciplinary collaboration, improvisational community building, and ongoing devotion to equity, access and direct response to the realities of a greater socio-cultural landscape.
Earthdance is dedicated to building awareness of sustainable living and community building; in addition to arts-focused programming, the facility is available for partnerships with other organizations, institutions, festivals, and rentals that align with Earthdance’s values and culture.
Classes & Workshops
Contact Improvisation
Artist Residencies & Retreats
Community
Earthdance Events
For more events see the full calendar >
Skimming the Surface: A Movement Healing Retreat with Valerie Green – REGISTER NOW!
May 2nd - 4th, 2025
“Skimming the Surface” Movement Healing Retreat will support adults that may be overcoming diverse forms of stress and trauma through somatic based expressive movement exercises. These workshops will help participants release blocked and repressed energy causing stress or discomfort in one’s life by integrating movement, feelings, and emotions.
Being With: The Axis Syllabus with Claire Turner Reid and Kerwin Barrington – REGISTER NOW!
May 15th - 19th, 2025
Our movement investigations will bring us through varied terrain of inquiry: bridging instinctive, intuitive, and intellectual ways of being with. How can we orient towards intimacy and interconnectivity for the long-game of our moving lives?
Dancing the Landscape Week Workshop with Frieda Kipar Bay and Dana Iova-Koga – REGISTER NOW!
May 23rd - 29th, 2025
To be alive is to be in constant, reciprocal relationship with our environment. We shape and are shaped; we move and are moved by our landscapes. In this immersive workshop we ask the question- what happens when we consider this relationship as a dance? How do we dance a landscape? How...
Summer Jam! with hosts Alli Ross and Cody Strauss – Registration Coming Soon!
June 28th - July 5th, 2025
We’re dreaming a jam of joyful connection and embodied expression—where families, movers, and magic-makers of all kinds can gather for dance, ritual, pageantry, and moments of meaning. We hope to co-create something alive, inclusive, and full of heart.
Second Sunday Jam
2nd Sunday of the Month: Potluck at 5pm, Class at 6:15pm, Jam at 7:30pm
Bring your movement gifts to share along with a yummy dish to nom on after class. Let's commune and practice during our sweet jam. And, relax together in the sauna while we rest our bones. Registration not required.
Interwoven: The Axis Syllabus and Dynamic Partnering with Daniel Bear Davis – 3 Class Series – REGISTER NOW!
Second Sunday - June 8th, Sept 14th, & Nov 9th, 2025 - Workshop 3-6pm, Potluck 6:15pm, Jam 7:30pm
This series of workshops, threaded through the year, will ground our explorations in The Axis Syllabus (AS) and Dynamic Partnering Practices. The AS explores details of our own anatomy, refined over thousands of years of evolution, to gain clues about how to move in collaboration with our own fascinating design.
Interwoven: The Axis Syllabus and Dynamic Partnering with Daniel Bear Davis – 3 Class Series – REGISTER NOW!
Second Sunday - June 8th, Sept 14th, & Nov 9th, 2025 - Workshop 3-6pm, Potluck 6:15pm, Jam 7:30pm
This series of workshops, threaded through the year, will ground our explorations in The Axis Syllabus (AS) and Dynamic Partnering Practices. The AS explores details of our own anatomy, refined over thousands of years of evolution, to gain clues about how to move in collaboration with our own fascinating design.
Introduction to Rage Club – Register Now!
Thursday, June 26th, 6-8:30pm, potluck to follow
Rage Club is a space to come alive. Most of us have spent our lives being told that it’s not ok to feel Anger—that it’s aggressive, dangerous, destructive, etc. This is an outdated relationship to feeling that keeps you numb and cuts you off from a powerful source of energy and information for your life.
For more events see the full calendar >
Independent Events
For more events see the full calendar >
More Ways to be Here
Host Your Event
With a unique combination of mixed-used indoor & outdoor facilities, Earthdance provides an ideal setting for workshops, conferences, weddings, and special events that seek a combination of focus, celebration, and intimate connection.
Private Retreats: Earthdance is a beautiful and inspiring place to rest & retreat.
Mineral Collecting: Visit the old Betts Mine site to look for minerals.
Experiences
The Value of Earthdance
A relaxing and rigorous environment, that values the pace of the body and the richness of the soul.
Lila H.
What I Learned
Inspired by a community of teachers dedicated to seeking the moving and sublime truths of existence I learned to call on my name as Artist and Dancer.
Michelle L.
Why I Donate
Earthdance is a gem in the firmament! It holds space for deep exploration of one’s current investigation and supports our light spirit as well.
Ted J.
I Love
Part of my joy is just knowing that it’s here, even if I don’t use it as much as I would like. It’s like a local home of the larger dance community. A place to meet and re-meet friends. A place to get physical contact in times when that’s missing from my life – a connection. A place to express emotion. A place I’m proud to introduce people to as a physical center for my community of people. It allows people to have a place for the stream of community members that come and go through out lives. A place of nurturing – be it food, touch, talk, dance.
Anonymous.